Page 84 of Bound by Family
She smiles wide, and my father coughs.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll just need a little help bringing in my bags, and we’re good to go.”
Cooper full-out laughs as I look over at my father who has a shit-eating grin on his face. Guess this is going to work out well, after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
COOPER
My brother and sister are the first to run up to us. I didn’t expect any differently. They’ve been blowing up my phone, wanting to meet Bristyl. We just needed time together and that’s what we did. We needed to heal, and luckily, that is getting better. It’s now time to branch out into the family, ready or not.
Nox is pretty much a younger version of me, scary but fucking true. He has a little bit of a darker tone to his light brown hair than me, but his features—no one would mistake him being my brother.
My sister on the other hand, she took after our mother in more ways than looks. Her hair is dark brown, on the verge of black. She’s growing up too damn fast, and judging by the skirt she has on, I’m surprised my father let her out of the house.
“Hi! I’m Austyn,” my sister says to Bristyl.
In the three weeks we’ve been MIA, her bruises have turned more yellow, which you can’t see with her makeup, even as light as it is. She had nightmares for a while and would wake up in cold sweats. I know those all too well. Once I had Bristyl in my arms, though, mine disappeared. I feared they would return after the ordeal, but I’ve been lucky. My woman, not so much. They have gotten better, though, and are coming more rarely. With time, I hope hers disappear as well.
“And I’m Nox,” my brother adds, and my sister elbows him in the chest. “What the hell?”
“You didn’t even let her talk before jumping in with who you are, dumb-dumb.”
“Introductions, Austyn. Hello!”
“Alright you two, enough.” Their bickering has to stop, or I’m going to have to duct tape them to something and cover their mouths. “What the fuck are you wearing?”
Austyn shivers. It’s slight, but it’s there. “It’s fine.” Her eyes dart around. I have no doubt the man they are trying to find.
“Dad see you in that shit?”
Her face turns red in embarrassment. “I’m only wearing it for a little while.”
“Change.”
“You’re not my dad!” she screams, and I chuckle.
“Dad sees you, he’ll tan your ass.”
Bristyl smiles beautifully at them, interrupting, which I’m grateful for. “Hi, I’m Bristyl. Nice to meet you.”
“Wow, you’re pretty. Will you teach me how to do my makeup?” Austyn asks with stars in her eyes. It would probably do her some good to learn to be subtle and not slap red on her lips.
“Uh, sure, if your mom says it’s alright.”
Austyn turns. “Mom!” Then she runs off to no doubt get permission for her face.
I watch as my mother looks at Austyn. She points her finger toward the clubhouse, and Austyn’s head goes down. Told her to change.
“You’re screwed now. She’s not going to leave you alone until you show her everything you know,” Nox says on a snort, looking over at me and shrugging. “Seems nice.” With that, he takes off.
“Well, that was interesting,” Bristyl says as I wrap my arm around her and pull her to me.
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
My mother rushes up to us. She’s been over several times since we got back and has demanded to teach Bristyl how to fight. I couldn’t agree more. Bristyl needs to learn to defend herself. Truth be told, I haven’t let her out of my sight for long these past weeks, needing to make sure at all times she’s safe.
The whole thing was my fault. If I would’ve gone with her to see her father, I could have prevented it. That eats at me. I vowed it will never ever happen again.
